> Dear Rolene: > Picture yourself living in rural Stearns County five years after you > immigrated there from "the old country." You had to work all day, six days > a week. Transportation was by horse for short distances, and by train if you > needed to go farther, say 25 - 50 miles. Would you travel past your local, > nearby county courthouse in order to become a citizen? I wouldn't. Neither > did your ancestors. They went to the closest court to become a citizen. The > records are "archived" somewhere in the state of Minnesota. > > Many local courthouses ran out of storage space decades ago. The records > could have been sent to a local university, historical society, or kept in > the attic of the old facility, which is now a renovated community center. > Most courthouses will tell you where their old records are kept, if you are > persistent and of course, talk to the right person. Many county employees > are new-hires (less than 10 years service) and don't know where the old stuff > is "archived." Many courts have microfilmed their old records and are > available at the state archives. > > In many courts the "first" papers for citizenship were considered expendable > if the individual eventually received his "final" papers. Therefore, you may > never find a Declaration for Naturalization, or "first" paper. Prior to 1906 > the individual courts across the US could use any format they choose, as long > as the record included the name of the court, the date, the name of the > potential citizen, and a renouncement of allegiance to the "old country." > These forms were usually preprinted and governed by the design of a > particular vendor. Some vendors put a lot of information on their forms and > other vendors had very little. In each court you could find several > different formats used over the decades. In 1906 ALL courts had to use a > form designed and printed by the United States. A copy of that record was > sent to Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington, DC. If all > else fails you can write to INS and have them do a search for you. It could > take upwards of two years, as INS is heavily involved with the present not > the past. > > Also, don't forget if a man served in the military he could have naturalized > based on his military service. Those records may be in the home county or in > a county in another state. Those are tough to find. > > Last, but not least, Stearns County Naturalization records have been > microfilmed and are available through Interlibrary Loan from the Minnesota > Historical Society at 345 Kellogg Blvd West, St. Paul, MN 55102. Their > microfilm series number for Sterns County is SAM 76 (23 rolls) and you want > to order the index first. > > I hope this information will help you. Court records are always a "seek and > find" situation. > > Good Luck, > > Karen Langer > Laguna Niguel, CA